This is the new church music: The Late Cord, Lights from the Wheelhouse

I’m going to jump back to 2006 for a minute. Among the amazing releases that year, including Scott Walker’s The Drift and Tom Waits’ three-disc beast Orphans, a little two-man project called The Late Cord put out an EP called Lights from the Wheelhouse.

My personal experience with this release is rather anomalous. I must have bootlegged it from someone at some point, since it has been on my computer since around June 2006, which is odd since the album wasn’t released in North America until July 25^th of that year. I kept passing over it as I scrolled through my media player, always asking, “What is that, and where did it come from?” Well, the mystery was eventually solved and I now wonder why the hell I didn’t listen to it sooner; the issue of not owning a physical copy was also recently rectified.

The Late Cord is made up of Micah P. Hinson and John-Mark Lapham. Hinson is a man whose young life has been fraught with difficulty. Drugs, arrest, jail, bankruptcy, homelessness… but he has still managed to fight his way through and create beautiful art. Here is a man a mere three months older than I am, been through hell itself, and has not quit. He stands as an inspiration to those of us who think we are in a bind. John-Mark Lapham is known for his work with The Earlies. The two grew up in the same town, but never knew each other until introduced by mutual friend Brandon Carr. Mr. Carr is owed a round of applause, since the meeting of these two sparked a music project that I have come to love.

I have a confession to make: I can’t think of saying anything about Lights from the Wheelhouse. It is so tuned to evoke emotional response from the listener that criticism is quite difficult. Everything, every last organ and cello and ambient noise and harmonica, everything, is so rich and potent that I am swept up and away. The variety of instruments used (and there are a lot of them) is mind-boggling; you barely notice how many different sounds you are actually hearing until you sit down and try to pick them out. That’s a particular songcraft style that I really appreciate. Their online bio begins, “This is the new church music.” It is a sentiment I can hardly argue with. Somber, but beautiful.

In a way, it reminds me of another excellent release from 2006: Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista. However, not for any reason other than the sort of country gothic experimental feel of the music. Lights from the Wheelhouse is much mellower and more (dare I use a word that two of my readers hate because they overused it when young? I overused it too, but not as bad as those two) ethereal. Lights from the Wheelhouse is a sort of otherwordly folk, like echoes from the winds of history. “Chains/Strings^I” (featuring cellist Semay Wu), aside from being the track directly in the middle of the EP, is also the shortest and my favorite. It’s pure instrumental, and reminds me of the music by Jankowski used in the Brothers Quay short “Street of Crocodiles.” If anything, putting the longest and arguably most potent track, “Lila Blue,” at the beginning is potentially detrimental to the effect of the following four songs, but I find myself enjoying the whole thing from start to finish regardless.

Lights from the Wheelhouse is a 4AD release, which means you can expect several things. First, the music will be of high quality. 4AD generally does not print sh#t. It may not be to your liking, but it certainly will not be trash (even The Breeders’ Mountain Battles, for all its lackluster, wasn’t garbage). Second, you can expect Vaughan Oliver/v23 to provide graphic design so that the whole package and not merely the music that’s on the CD is a work of art. 4AD is odd in a way; not many record labels have the benefit of brand loyalty from their consumers. Their commitment to quality is no doubt why many (including myself) often look to them as a shining beacon in the dank, foul, rot-stench realm of modern music publishing.

Vaughan Oliver works his art direction magic again, as does Marc Atkins with his photography. Design and textures were performed by Chris Bigg from v23. I cannot do more than heap praise upon their creation. It lends a perfect visual accompaniment to that which I am hearing. Incidentally, the same team of Oliver, Bigg, and Atkins were responsible for the art from another one of 2006’s best releases, Scott Walker’s The Drift. Lights from the Wheelhouse comes in a mini-LP style case; while I used to hate those, I’ve grown to like them in some ways.

Why is all this relevant? One EP from two years ago, and we haven’t heard anything since? Well, they are currently working on a full-length release that I am hoping will see the light this year. If the full-length album is of the same quality as this EP, we may have to start making room in the top ten right now, just in case. I don’t have a top ten from 2006, but if I were to go back, this would be somewhere in there, probably near the number 1 slot. Lights from the Wheelhouse is a debut release that is at once haunting and beautiful, and something that I have no intention of letting gather dust.



The Late Cord online, 4AD’s band profile, and at myspace.com